00:01Forms of military drones in the Estonian sky.
00:05Here it's only a demonstration.
00:07But in Ukraine, these devices are making a real difference.
00:11Euronews was invited to see Estonia's latest defense innovations.
00:15Kratworks showed how a single operator can now control multiple drones at the same time.
00:20It's pretty hard to shoot it down.
00:22They are top falling.
00:24And if you can shoot it, it will explode anyways above your head.
00:27This is our innovative thinking how we can multiply Estonian soldiers
00:35so one Estonian soldier can be more effective against an enemy who has overwhelming numbers.
00:46Estonia's defense industry is almost entirely private.
00:50Many of the companies supply military technology to Ukraine
00:53and improve their products based on real battlefield feedback.
00:58That helped Thriot systems upgrade its surveillance and intelligence gathering drones.
01:04They are now more reliable in poor weather, easier to use under stress and more resilient to jamming.
01:10If you lose the GPS, what will the aircraft do?
01:14Like previously, it mostly crashed somewhere.
01:17Nowadays, our product is that safe that it comes home.
01:21You can take it over and land safely.
01:23So that was a key feature that came from Ukraine.
01:26That experience has pushed Estonia's defense sector towards flexible, lightweight and affordable solutions.
01:31One example is this pneumatic drone catapult, wildly used in Ukraine.
01:37Through a pulley system, the movement is amplified.
01:40So within this distance, the carriage is moved from one edge of the rail all the way to the other
01:47end of the rail.
01:53The catapult can be set up in minutes and needs only diesel fuel to launch drones.
02:00Another priority is shifting the supply chain to Europe, reducing dependence on Chinese drone components.
02:07Companies such as Electric Wings Group focus on domestic development, assembly and testing.
02:13This would be crucial if drone production had to be scaled up urgently.
02:18The frames, the propellers and the motors are made in Estonia.
02:22Also, the batteries are assembled in Estonia as well.
02:25So I kind of like to say that this is kind of a domestically produced drone.
02:30We can produce about 10,000 pieces per year right now.
02:34Also, we can scale up the capacity from there as well.
02:39Estonia wants to become a global hub for testing and building drones.
02:45The government aims to triple defense industry revenue to 1 billion euro by 2030.
02:53Estonia's defense industry is learning from Russia's continuing invasion in Ukraine and other conflicts around the globe.
03:00The lesson is simple.
03:01Today's wars are in many ways drone wars.
03:05And whoever has a technology that is smarter, tougher and cheaper can gain the edge, even against a far stronger
03:13enemy.
03:14Janis Loksië, Euronews, Estonia.
03:19Thank you very much.
03:22You
